Is this a blueprint for AI transformation through partnerships?

A year ago, Wall Street questioned if legacy software companies could reinvent themselves for the AI era. While it's too early to declare winners, Salesforce's latest numbers reveal an intriguing blueprint - and it's reshaping how enterprise AI gets adopted.

Salesforce stock up 19% LTM amid broad SaaS selloff, Agentforce launching with 200+ deals in first week, and AWS Marketplace transactions doubling in Q3 after winning top 3 deals in Q2.

But what's fascinating is how they're doing it - by putting partners at the center of their AI strategy.

Partner-Led AI Adoption:

• Global partners involved in 75% of Q3 Agentforce deals and 9 of top 10 wins

• Over 80,000 system integrators completed Agentforce training in one quarter

• Partners built 10,000+ agents in just 3 days at Dreamforce

What's striking is how this partner-first approach is reshaping both sides of the ecosystem.

Brian Millham, COO, captures it well: "We're seeing amazing Agentforce energy across the ecosystem... and our partners are also becoming agent-first enterprises themselves."

Take Accenture's example - they're not just selling Agentforce, they're using it to transform their own 52,000-person global sales organization. This signals a shift: partners are becoming both the delivery channel and proof points for AI transformation.

Cloud Marketplaces and Alliances Accelerating This Trend:

Amazon Web Services (AWS) marketplace is becoming the (default?) strategic channel for enterprise AI buying for Salesforce.

• AWS Marketplace transactions doubled in Q3 (top 3 Salesforce's deals in Q2 all transacted via marketplace)

• 10 marketplace deals exceeded $1M

• Full Salesforce platform is now available in 23 countries via AWS

Deep Platform Integration

"By integrating data and AI capabilities across our platforms, Salesforce and AWS are building a strong foundation for the future of agentic systems," explains Brian Landsman, EVP.

This includes zero-copy functionality with Amazon Redshift and Model Builder's integration with Amazon Bedrock - making AI deployment practical at scale.

The results are starting to show.

As Salesforce’s Millham notes: "The number of wins greater than $1 million with AI more than tripled year over year and we signed more than 2,000 AI deals."

To capture this demand, they're hiring 1,400 AEs and using AI agents to augment every seller.

Key Implications for Leaders:

• Partner ecosystems are becoming key drivers of AI adoption

• Cloud marketplaces are now a strategic channel

• Deep integrations are no longer optional

But perhaps the most interesting is how this partner-centric approach might help legacy vendors outmaneuver AI-native startups.

2025 will be the real test, but in 2024 annual report Salesforce highlighted that:

“We expect that marketing and sales expenses will likely decrease as a percentage of revenues in the near term as we continue to focus on leveraging our self-serve and partner-led channels and increasing our sales productivity.”

You see how it’s playing out now.